The Upper Sac or Truckee??

[BHirayama]

Hello. Each June, 4 good friends and I take a trip to Dunsmuir to fish the Upper Sac. This year we are thinking about possibly changing things up a bit and trying the Truckee instead. We will be arriving for 3 nights on June 10. Does anyone have a crystal ball and have an opinion on which river might be fishing the best? Thanks in advance for your input!!!

[Jeff F]

Two very different rivers. Upper Sac at that time will offer more consistent hook-ups. The Truckee? One never knows from day to day. I've had great days on the Truckee. Went back the next day, same exact conditions, and got skunked. Yes, the Truckee offers a chance at very large trout, but the USac will give you a better chance at catching fish all day long. The major hatches on the USac should be just starting to happen early June. When the golden stones and sallies are coming off, it can be epic dry fly fishing. That being said, the Truckee can have great dry action some days too, especially the caddis hatch in the evening.

If it were me, I'd go to the USac, cuz the Truckee can be a crapshoot. Yes, the fish are there, but getting them to cooperate is a whole different story.

[cdevine]

Two very different rivers. Upper Sac at that time will offer more consistent hook-ups. The Truckee? One never knows from day to day. I've had great days on the Truckee. Went back the next day, same exact conditions, and got skunked. Yes, the Truckee offers a chance at very large trout, but the USac will give you a better chance at catching fish all day long. The major hatches on the USac should be just starting to happen early June. When the golden stones and sallies are coming off, it can be epic dry fly fishing. That being said, the Truckee can have great dry action some days too, especially the caddis hatch in the evening.

If it were me, I'd go to the USac, cuz the Truckee can be a crapshoot. Yes, the fish are there, but getting them to cooperate is a whole different story.

I personally don't know the upper sac like I do the truckee. In fact I just got off the Truckee. The Canyon is roaring right now. 800+ CFS. Water is very cold. 46-48 degrees and the fish are still a little lethargic. Its really nice to see all the feeder creeks pumping in water. It looks pretty darn normal. Like Jeff said its really hit or miss and you better have your nymph game on. Not many dry opportunities but the big carpenter ants could pop around that time. Then again the LT has great dry opportunities when conditions are ripe and you have that option in the greater truckee area.

Certain areas of the truckee did better in the drought than others but the upper sac survived the drought better than the Truckee in my opinion. More spring fed creeks kept water cooler in that upper section and I think there are more fish per mile. Are you going to catch a 20+ inch brown? Probably not. The truckee has some hogs. Trophy fish. Will you catch more fish and have better dry opportunities on the upper sac? I think so.

Another factor is crowds and solitude. Truckee is great during a weekday. I don't even think about a weekend. Upper sac is much more quiet.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

The Upper Sac in June is one of the best things going in California.

Nymphing in the day time, eat dinner and dry fly fishing in the evening.


Truckee River in CA is a little more fickle but timing is good.

Get out the first day on the Truckee with Doug Ouellette.

http://www.truckeeriverflyfishing.com/


*The Pit River was my favorite trout stream in the world but with the higher flows they have basically ruined it for fly fishing.

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[BHirayama]

Thanks for the responses guys. We are very familiar with the Upper Sac, but most of us have never fished the Truckee. Does anyone have an idea of what the flows will be like around June 10? Thanks again!!

[bigfly]

Thanks for the responses guys. We are very familiar with the Upper Sac, but most of us have never fished the Truckee. Does anyone have an idea of what the flows will be like around June 10? Thanks again!!

I love the T.....everyone knows that....
But the T requires work to get into fish..not just a good guide.
If I just wanted a fish or two, the upper Sac is a good choice. You can just about depend on an accidental fish....
And floating a boat is THE option.
But, if I wanted to get good, or be "challenged", the T is where it's at. (No legal commercial floating though....so wading may be an issue depending on one's mobility..)
The Ants are starting to pop now, caught a flyin' one yesterday, but not full force yet.....saw the first Little Golden stone yesterday....the bug schedule seems advanced a bit..
The flows will be much lower in a month...
The melt is on now, and not very colored up..
The T should be "perfect" in mid-June..and Hopper time....
Of course you never know what the "water master" will do with the flows.....

Jim

[cdevine]

I love the T.....everyone knows that....
But the T requires work to get into fish..not just a good guide.
If I just wanted a fish or two, the upper Sac is a good choice.
And floating a boat is THE option.
But, if I wanted to get good, or be "challenged", the T is where it's at. (No commercial floating though....so wading may be an issue depending on one's mobility..)
The Ants are starting to pop now, but not full force yet.....saw the first Little Golden stone yesterday....
The flows will be much lower in a month...
The melt is on now, and not very colored up..
The T should be "perfect" in mid-June..and Hopper time....
Of course you never know what the "water master" will do with the flows.....

Jim

Big fly- You love the T? No way man... As usual you are spot on.
I did see some ants yesterday but no big winged females. I actually farted
around prosser creek off 89 for a couple hours and got into a couple nice fish. Water was really
chilly and flowing but a good day to soak in sun and nature.

My Crystal ball is thinking flows will be in the 500-600 range early June below boca. Dang near perfect. Lots of feeder creeks pumping in liquid this year. Today flows are around 900 in canyon if not more.

[Ralph]

My Crystal ball is thinking flows will be in the 500-600 range early June below boca.

In early June they MAY be quite a bit higher than that. This will be the first year in a while that Stampede water is available for the Tribe's Cottonwood flushing flows. Timing is everything.

[KJE]

You could mix it up a little and use the Upper Sac as your basecamp, but hit the McCloud for a day or two. My general plan is to hit the Upper Sac on the way to the Mac, fish Ah Di Na for a couple days, then hit the Upper Sac again on the way out. Are there more extremely large fish in the Truckee? Probably, at least in areas angler visit, but that doesn't mean that there aren't large browns on both the McCloud and Upper Sac. They're there, just fewer and far between.

[flynoob]

You could mix it up a little and use the Upper Sac as your basecamp, but hit the McCloud for a day or two. My general plan is to hit the Upper Sac on the way to the Mac, fish Ah Di Na for a couple days, then hit the Upper Sac again on the way out. Are there more extremely large fish in the Truckee? Probably, at least in areas angler visit, but that doesn't mean that there aren't large browns on both the McCloud and Upper Sac. They're there, just fewer and far between.

This is what I would do. The McCloud and the Upper Sac are blue ribbon trout streams. As much as I like the Truckee (for a half day), it is not. I would not make Truckee a 3 day destination.